What Improvements can Erasmus make bearing in mind the present squad?

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I don't know either. 

I thought Papier was solid today.

I do not know what happened here and how the blank posting got in.  My posting read as follows:-

There is not much available which could be done.   Fact is the only real improvement he can make is to bring in De Jager at 5 ahead of the powder-puff Mostert who is losing the Springboks physicality in the Tight 5.   Was not at all impressed by Snyman yesterday as well.   

The lock combination should be Etzebeth and De Jager, with Schickerling as back up on the bench.

I will also rather have Willense on the bench ahead of Jantjies.  You cannot have Jantjiies and move Pollard to center where the latter's defensive problems get exposed. I would rather use Willemse to cover at inside center.  Leave Pollard at flyhalf where he is of real value.

Louw played for 14 minutes yesterday and did squat in that time.   Erasmus should sent him packing and call up Coetzee as loosie cover.  Imagine a loosie playing for near to 30 minutes in two tests and making in total 3 tackles combined when he came from the bench.  

Snyman had  bad game?

Again Mike, I think we watched different matches.

Don't you think that maybe we could just give the guy a few starts before we declare him entirely unworthy of the Boks jersey.

Also, do you reckon De Jager did better when he came on?

I don't.

Here Mike...from SA Rugby Mag. He missed only one tackle. Monstert made the most tackles on the day...13. Snyman got only two less in 20 minutes less game time. He was also instrumental in the try. 

He was also instrumental in what was very close to our second try, making yet another excellent offload after good awareness saw him yet again make a wonderful support play.

Snyman looks like he might be our most intelligent lock. Good hands, good lineout, excellent defensive ability and test level game reading.

He impacted the game positively yesterday despite being a complete noob to the test scene.

Please do explain why you were so unimpressed.

Is this gonna be another one of those players where you refuse to take his performance into account?

My feeling is that he will eclipse Eben. He just brings more to the table. He even makes more tackles. Bi t odd really. Isn't Eben supposed to be our bone crunching grunted?

4. RG Snyman – 7
Snyman secured three of his lineout balls but lost one early in the second half. He made a good offload in the buildup to Kriel’s try after one of his four runs in the match and completed 11 of his 12 tackles. He was substituted in the 60th minute

De Jager did do better when he came on than Snyman.   He lent some real value in the performance of the Tight 5 as a whole and the Scots were put under forward pressure in the last 15 minutes of the game when De Jager came on.

Snyman is a problem case when it comes to discipline and his physical contribution to Tight 5 play is insignificant.   Mostert was not good enough yesterday and his lack of physicality come out in every tackle he made and ball carry where he is tackled back.  

De Jager has in the past Super Rugby season constantly outplayed Snyman and he always was rated higher than Snyman as a player.   I think Erasmus actually regards him as a 4 - and with the return of Etzebeth he will not really figure.  From what I have seen in Super Rugby Schickerling was a better lock than Snyman anyway.        

Lood is and was substandard. Hasn't had a good test against any quality opposition to date. He is a flat track bully, sometimes. He was remarkably outclassed by Snyman yesterday. It wasn't even slightly close.

Improvements: Mapimpi for Nkosi (in absence of injury, Kolbe) , André for Damian, and Am for Kriel. When will Nel get a chance? Drop Lood, drop Willemse. 

Look at the extremely powerful Bok-scrum at about 70.1 min. which occurred soon after Lood came on. The Boks did not had such a scrum prior to that and I think Lood was the main forward responsible for this power improvement. We will need this power against Ireland and later down the road against the All Blacks.

Blikkies

Our scrum was better when etzebeth and Du Toit was at lock - and worse with Snyman and Mostert were  combined.   Both Snyman and Mostert cause weakening of the Tight 5 and AO does not see with their own eyes what you mentioned.   Maybe they saw it - but is too stupid to add 1 and 1 together and get 2 - they get 1 - because their rugby knowledge is not based on the game - but on prejudice.

De Jager came on and soon enough the Springboks moved from their half to the Scottish half of the field because of forward pressure and that was where they remained for most of the tim e De Jager was on the field.  

I'm not a Mosterdt basher, but yesterday I saw why some are...eclipse Etzebeth?? LMAO, I must have read that wring Plum Mosterdt lacked in physical presence yesterday...big time...stats don't convey context. Mosterdt got monstered yesterday...not badly, but still. 

You did read it wro ng Draad.

I was saying the Snyman looks like he has the potential to eclipse Etsebeth.

Lood's power is overrated. He makes no ground as a carrier, gets cleaned out of rucks, can't handle the ball, is too slow to adjust to an changes of direction , has poor endurance and is passive. This is not a test lock. If this was 1952, I'd say okay. It is, however, 2018. We need to get with the times. There is nothing that Lood does that Snyman doesn't do significantly better. So too Eben, Steph and even Mostert. 

Mozart

At least there was one stronger scrummaging lock on the field.   The rest of your description I tread before - you wrote the same twaddle when Matfield was in serious  decline in 2014 and 2015.

Mostert is more know for  being tackled back when he carries balls and making weak tackles.   He plays no role in ball protection and recovery and he cannot properly function in rolling mauls.

In the famous one last week - so falsely escribe you he ended up in the air with no feet on the ground and  Vermeulen and Du Toit took over to ensure he maul is successfully completed.  

You have no idea about the contribution of locks in the Tight 5 and when Matfield was criticized about turning the Tight 5 into a Tight 4 - you came up with the classic that that is the reason for the selection of Alberts as an 7.   Both failed in their respective new roles.   

So try again  the fact that Snyman and Mostert was the locks had a negative impact on scrumming and Du Toit had to take Snyman''s role in jumping at the front of line-outs.

As false as your constant attacks on Du Toit are - as false are your  praise songs on Mostert.     

You all can go on with your preferential campaigns - but the facts remain that Snyman is performance wised not on par with De Jager insofar as Tight 5 performance is concerned and Mostert a non-contributor.

Time for real locks to play - not pretenders.   

Other than Etzebeth I think our locks are ordinary. DDA, Esterhuizen and Am are not of test standard. Kolisi and Whiteley are the worst ever Bok loosies. None of the above would make the Irish or AB side.

Snyman is world class. André shone in the RC. Am wasn't bad either. Whiteley has been very good this year. Very far from worst loosie ever. André is better than Crotty on current form. Certainly better than Sonny Bill. They have big problems at 12. There seem to be reservations about Lau.

Our weak point is Kriel and Damian. We go Willie to centre to dead-end. You'll be stunned when I reveal the amount of ball our wings have receives this year. What ball they've had has very often been devoid of space. Chips and grubbers to get in behind. An over reliance on Willie doesn't help. Our pack is immense. Our backline and the structure of our attack must be improved.

Look at Ireland. It was essentially the 2014 Meyer model. Quick passes, flatter. Pounding the All Black line, putting it under pressure. They kicked much less, denied the All Blacks the opportunity to strike back. Our attack is too slow to develop and goes nowhere. We've physically dominated teams with Whiteley et al. They aren't the problem. We have enough power to even carry Kolisi. 

Well, Mike ... start with Beast and bring in better cover for the loosehead on the bench. We have a lot of talented loosehead props that would make a big difference to this spent quota.

Then move over to the bench hooker and send him back to Province. Replace his useless quota ass with Akker who should have been there to begin with.

Then take a gander at your back row ... kick Kolisi out and replace him with Jaco Kriel ... who should also should have been there from the start.

Duane Vrmeulen is not the man he use to be, that much is clear. He's old and tired. That's probably why he ducked the Rugby Championships. We need to find ourselves specialist 8 ... and in my opinion, Whiteley is NOT the man.   

Then there's the blindside that needs to be sorted desperately. Du Toit has done well there but to my mind should be at lock.

Jantjies ... the less said about this quota chump the better. Simply useless. Willemse is by far a better option. Why he hasn't been given his shot is beyond me.

Both midfielders are second rate ... and no ... I'm not suggesting replacing De Allende with the pathetic Esterhuizer. Jan Serfontein is a class act. Janse van Rensburg is also one to consider and so is Franscois Venter. There are a few more option to consider and all of them would be n improvment on our current duo.

Willie Le Roux is as average as they come. He's hot and cold and prone to stupid decisions. I'm sure we can do better than that over rated bozo.

There's a lot of work to do.

No Mozart

Show some logic for a change.

I think Jantjies and Pollard at 12 is total idiocy.  Pollard started to make mistakes and he was poor in defense at 12 as well.

I would say retain Pollard at 10 and put Willemse on the bench and if need be bring him on as center.

You obviously do not want Du Toit in the team - but that in itself creates problems.     So why not try and make comments and explain why rolling mauls and defense against such opposition mauls have gone missing from the Springbok Team?